Supporting comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery through leisure activities, outings, games, and socialization.
Get back to the things you love
Recreational therapy at Sheltering Arms Institute enhances physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual functions by blending leisure and recreation interests into individualized care plans.
Tailored to your interests
Delivered in the inpatient setting by Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialists (CTRS), recreational therapy at Sheltering Arms Institute enhances the patient experience, fostering emotional engagement, peer relationships, and overall well-being. Through each individual’s assessment, recreation therapists identify patient-centered goals to introduce adaptive equipment or functional activities to gain independence through leisure.
Individuals work directly with recreation therapists, focusing on favorite hobbies and interests.
Recreational therapy is blended into other therapy sessions such as physical and occupational therapy.
Providing individuals with opportunities to socialize and develop new leisure interests such as music therapy, nondenominational worship services, and co-treatment groups with other disciplines.
Recreation therapists lead off-campus activities such as shopping, outdoor recreation, or adaptive sports with the option to collaborate with other disciplines or partner organizations.
I love gardening, so my recreation therapists incorporated planting into my therapy. They even planned an outing for us to visit a local garden center. For me, getting my hands in the soil was probably the best therapy of all.
Creativity and compassion
At Sheltering Arms Institute, recreation therapists work diligently and creatively to develop adaptive versions of the leisure activities and hobbies that individuals enjoyed prior to their illness or injury, or collaborate with the individual to design a new leisure lifestyle for fulfillment and function. Recreation therapists can also provide patients and family members with adaptive equipment and community resource recommendations if needed.
Recreational therapy beyond Sheltering Arms Institute
Sheltering Arms Institute has many partnerships with organizations in the Richmond area and beyond to support the therapeutic recreational needs of patients after graduation from inpatient rehabilitation. Recreation therapists also identify additional community resources in alignment with each patient’s discharge plan.
Increase strength and fitness, decrease stress, relieve pain, and improve overall health and quality of life
Incorporating innovative programming and state-of-the-science technology to help individuals with neurological conditions achieve fitness and recovery goals
A prescription-based exercise program for those transitioning to independent exercise
A day recreation program serving adults with disabilities or physical limitations
Creating opportunities by making sports accessible and inclusive for individuals with physical disabilities and visual impairments
Empowering survivors of brain injury through flexible, responsive services
Advancing education, awareness, support, treatment, and research to improve the quality of life for all people affected by brain injury
Supporting individuals living with spinal cord injury to achieve their highest level of health and independence
Understanding recreational therapy
Recreational therapy utilizes recreation, hobbies, and other activity-based interventions to individualize rehabilitation among individuals recovering from a broad range of illnesses or injuries according to each individual’s leisure preferences and lifestyle.
Each patient currently receiving inpatient rehabilitation at Sheltering Arms Institute has contact with a recreational therapist to determine the most appropriate care plan. Recreational therapy is appropriate for patients with concern regarding returning to preferred leisure, needing connection with community resources, experiencing a leisure lifestyle change post injury or illness, or those who are motivated toward treatment through their leisure interests.
Recreational therapy focuses on enhancing quality of life through physical, cognitive, social, and emotional function by incorporating each individual’s leisure and recreation interests into their overall care plan.
Recreational therapy is offered for patients currently receiving inpatient rehabilitation at Sheltering Arms Institute’s main campus in Richmond, Virginia.
Start your Journey
Contact a specialist at Sheltering Arms Institute to learn more about how you can gain more freedom in your everyday life.
